Starlight
by Painted Tiger
Summary: "In the places where her brilliant sun's light could not reach, there is beauty beyond compare." One-shot. In her dreams, Luna roams the galaxies. Cover by FoxTailPegasus on Deviantart.


Oo0oO

Dawn. The beginning of a new day, of new possibilities and fresh hope. It was a time of wonder and anticipation, as the first rays of light began to creep their way across the darkened sky. Minute by minute, they would consume the shadows, growing and growing until soon the entire world was bathed in warm light. And then, all at once, the quiet night would give way to a bright, sunny tomorrow.

Through the open window, Luna watched as the first glimmers of dawn began to peek over the rocky horizon, sending golden rays racing across the valley below. And in the sky, she watched purple fade to light pink, as one by one her brilliant stars flickered and died. Her horn glowing softly, Luna sighed as she watched Equestria succumb to the light of day, her magic fading as Celestia claimed the sky.

_Goodbye, my night_, the princes thought to herself, unable to tear her eyes away from the scene before her. She watched quietly as the sun ever so slowly rose over the horizon, abating the shadows with its brilliant glow. She knew that as it ascended the sky, hundreds of ponies would arouse from their soft slumber, drawn awake by the promise of a fresh start.

For a long, long time, nothing would have broken Luna's heart more than that one, single thought. No matter how beautiful her night, how breathtaking the stunning silence of darkness, the ponies of Equestria would never be able to look upon it the way they did the day. While she knew of many creatures throughout the land the reveled in her night, such as the thieving raccoon, or the wise owl, her subjects would never be able to truly appreciate it as these creatures did.

Ponies craved the light, the dulling of their most valuable sense rendering the night a time of fear. She had heard far too many stories about the deadly creatures that lurked in the darkness, those that preyed on the innocent ponies who dared venture out under the glow of the moon. But where were these creatures during the day? Hiding, presumably, in the shadowy reprieve of the Everfree forest. Such was the easiest answer, and the one the ponies always gave.

But in truth, the creatures that the ponies feared did not exist. While much evil could be found scattered throughout the land, they did not cling to the darkness like many liked to believe. And yet, being the opposite of the day, which so many had always considered a time of peace and joy, it was difficult for them to accept that perhaps the night too could be beautiful . . .

_No, we mustn't dwell on that_, Luna reprimanded herself, turning her back to the window. It was thinking like that which had first allowed the nightmare forces into her mind, their silent whispers corrupting her, allowing her anger to fester until it turned the princess into a monster. A monster that had forced Celestia to do the unthinkable, and had caused Luna to very nearly destroy the kingdom she had worked for so long to protect.

Just thinking of it, Luna shivered slightly, the memories all too fresh in her mind. She would rather die than allow herself to fall that far again, to endanger so many lives just to achieve one single, selfish goal. Besides, she reasoned, she no longer needed to fear her sister's shadow. While it was true that many ponies still regarded the night with fear, her return from her thousand years of imprisonment had not granted her the same treatment. Amazingly, the ponies of Equestria had still greeted her warmly, accepting her as Celestia's equal rather quickly after the Nightmare Moon incident. As Twilight Sparkle had shown her, it did not matter to them who she was then, only the pony she was now.

Still lost in thought, Luna hardly noticed a light rapping on her door, and nearly cried out when she found one of her guards peering in the room.

"A thousand apologies your highness," he rushed to cover his mistake, his embarrassment evident in his tone. "I did not mean to frighten you."

Recovering from her initial surprise, Luna let a smile play on her lips, the stallion's formalities prompting easy forgiveness.

"There are no apologies necessary," she responded, keeping her tone friendly. "Now, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"Oh um, I'm just here to remind you of your hearing in an hour," he said quickly, still not entirely comfortable.

"Yes, the hearing," Luna hesitated, having completely forgotten about it. However, she was careful not to let it show, covering her folly with an uneasy smile. "Thank you for . . . reminding me. I'll prepare accordingly."

Saying nothing of her fault, the guard simply bowed, stepping out of the room and leaving Luna alone once again. The moment he had done so, the princess exhaled, moving away from the door.

"It seems I have a long day ahead of me," she said quietly, looking towards the ground. Before she could stop herself, she found her hooves leading her towards her large, four-poster bed, and within moments she had settled into a comfortable position. _Perhaps I might be able to catch a wink of sleep before my presence is required . . . _Before Luna could find the means to object, she was gone.

Oo0oO

Dreams were incredible things. Truly, in all of her years, Luna had never seen more beauty than that found in her slumber, where thoughts and imagination ran untamed. In dreams, one was not limited by the bonds of reality, of the truths and subjugations of everyday life. There was no worry, no fear or anger. Simply freedom.

Being the princess of the night, she was born a lucid dreamer, able to bend the dream world as easily as an author could bend the reality of a book. Though the majority of ponies were powerless against the wills of their subconscious minds, she did not falter, her manipulation of dreams allowing her passage to worlds unseen by the naked eye. To her, dreams were a blank canvas, capable of being shaped into whatever her heart desired.

However, with her duties guarding the dreams of her subjects, it was not often that she had the opportunity to enter this realm. On most nights, she would not truly sleep, instead entering a semi-conscious state that allowed her to pass through the dreams of her subjects. For hours on end she would delve into the minds of others, occasionally exploring, but almost always on business. In this way, the musings of her own mind were left untouched. Therefore, Luna reveled every second she spent in her own dreams, wasting little time before diving right in.

Her dream began with her standing on the edge of a balcony, presumably one of the many found throughout the palace. From here, she was provided a splendid view over Ponyville, the quiet town bathed in the light of a full moon. Though such was impossible in the real world, from here she saw hundreds of ponies wandering about, laughing and playing in the dusk like she had seen them do in the day.

Unable to help herself, Luna felt a sad smile began to spread across her face. She couldn't even begin to recall how many nights she had imagined this scene, that where her subjects loved and appreciated the night like they did the day. It was a selfish wish, yet one that had buried itself in her core long ago. And while she no longer held resentment against her subjects for not appreciating her night, Luna could not deny how happy the thought made her.

After watching them for a few moments loner, Luna drew her gaze away from the valley, drawing open her feathered wings. With a single flap she was airborne, rising steadily into the night sky. Each wingbeat took her hooves farther and farther from solid ground, once large landmarks quickly shrinking and then disappearing altogether. But she felt no fear, for there was nothing up here that could hurt her. Here, the night was endless.

Steadily, Luna continued to rise, feeling the air warp around her as she ascended. Though a few lone clouds stood by to remind her of her height, she paid them no heed, flying up, up, up, as far as her wings would take her. And then, with a burst of speed, Luna broke through the last layer of atmosphere, emerging into a world unseen by all.

Space. Galaxies. The universe.

It was difficult to comprehend at first, the idea of such a place existing just above all of their heads. While many astronomers had accepted that there were more than just stars out there, no one had actually seen them. Well, no one accept for Luna. Fueled by the power of her dreams, she had been given the chance to explore beyond the known realm, places where seemingly concrete ideas such as time and gravity were twisted and warped. It was world so marvelously different from anything she had ever seen, one even Celestia knew very little about. For here, in the places where her brilliant sun's light could not reach, there was beauty beyond compare.

Breathing in the familiar sense of wonder, Luna could not help but smile, her eyes widening as she attempted to take it all in at once. Before her, billions of stars shimmered softly, like fireflies suspended in an endless sea of night. Though so very few were visible from her home in Equestria, here they were limitless, stretching indefinitely towards the far reaches of the cosmos. It was a staggering thought, yet somehow comforting. For now matter how far she may travel, Luna knew that she would always have the stars as her guide.

Almost as if on cue, the lights slowly began to rearrange themselves around Luna, falling one by one from the heavens. Though many still hung suspended in the sky, a few long specters began gathering beneath her feet, twisting themselves into a sort of a cosmic river. Ever so slowly, they stretched out before her, until eventually they formed a path leading out into the furthest reaches of space.

Though she knew instinctively where the stars would lead her, the princess could not help but hesitate a moment, throwing one wayward glance back at her home planet. Earth.

From so far up, the mountains and rivers she had become accustomed to were almost indistinguishable; the land, sea, and sky mixing together in a blur of colors. Civilization was practically non-existent, for even the largest, most elaborate structures created were invisible from this height.

Thinking upon this, Luna could not help but become invested with a feeling of smallness, and perhaps even insignificance. Though it was true that an alicorn was anything but insignificant in Equestria, what was she to the universe? Nothing, just a small chunk of matter floating aimlessly through space. Therefore she reasoned, Earth couldn't possibly miss her is she wandered for just a little while.

Taking a breath, Luna proceeded forward, collapsing her wings and galloping lightly on empty air. Though she kept her pace relatively slow, her mind warped her perception of time, changing a journey that would have taken years into something achievable within minutes. Even now, as she looked beside her, the red-orange planet Mars drew ever closer; dark, cloudy patches hugging its surface. From Earth, the planet appeared to be little more than a slightly brighter star in the sky, even its red coloration lost across the miles. In fact, it had taken scientists many years to simply recognize it as a planet, for even the most advanced telescopes created only barely scratched the surface of the cosmos.

But here, the planet stood in all its glory, her imagination filling in the blanks for things the telescope could not see. Like the small patch of ice found near the bottom of the planet, not unlike Equestria's own ice caps. Though Luna had more than once questioned how a planet so different from their own could share such a feature, she knew better than to argue with dream logic.

Turning from the red giant, the princess continued on, eager to explore further. As she went, she passed more planets, all of which she could neither confirm nor deny the actual existence of. First came another orangeish one, though this one was significantly larger than both Earth and Mars combined. Additionally, instead of having a visible terrain, the surface was swirling with some sort of gas, stripes of white and orange merging together into a warm cream.

Yet, the planet was not nearly as foreign to her as the one that followed. While also rather creamy in color, this one appeared to be surrounded by a giant ring. Naturally Luna had been curious, and had found upon closer inspection that this planet's ring was actually made of smaller bodies, space rocks and debris that had been pulled into orbit around the planet like a thousand tiny moons. Though she had not recognized it initially, this was Luna's first clue that perhaps the universe held something more than just planets and stars, that what she was seeing was perhaps just a tiny piece of something much, much larger.

Having now memorized these closer planets by heart, Luna again began to pick up speed, watching three more planets race by in a blur of grayish blue. Using the stars as her guide, she continued on, drifting further and further into the cosmos. Though the darkness surrounded her, she was by no means afraid, galloping on and on into forever. Until suddenly, all at once, the endless black gave way to light. Color exploded before her eyes, the universe tinged with every hue imaginable. More stars than she could explore in an entire lifetime surrounded her, gathering in swirling clusters around infinite suns.

However, more than mere collections of stars, Luna knew these were galaxies.

Upon her first discovery of these bodies, the princess was amazed, shocked even. What portion of the stars ponies had explored, the collection of space and planets that had seemed so big to her was insignificant compared to this. For their home, their galaxy, was just one out of infinite numbers, each with their own planets, stars, moons, and suns. Even now, after so many journeys here, Luna knew it was impossible to completely comprehend the sheer _number _of galaxies out there. There were so many different worlds . . .

And she knew also, that somewhere out there was life. Though the princess could not comprehend what kind of life there was beyond the reaches of her own galaxy, with so many different planets, anything was possible. Perhaps, there was even another world just like hers, with other ponies who looked out into the stars and wondered the same thing that she wondered now. Perhaps, in this world, there was even a Lunar Princess, one who also spent her dreams roaming the stars . . .

But, perhaps she was also looking too far into it. Clearing her head, Luna regained a casual pace, drifting slowly through the starry beyond. Without purpose or direction she wandered, content with allowing the universe to take her where it wished. As she went, she watched galaxy after galaxy pass, each one a paint splatter on the canvas of the universe. No two were exactly the same, each a different collection of stars and colors. Because of this, Luna knew that even if she roamed on forever she could never grow tired of them, unable to deny that she had often thought about leaving behind her old life to journey forever among the stars.

She couldn't recall how long she went on like this, watching the cosmos pass in a sort of dreamy, euphoric state. However, after a while, she felt herself slipping, her grasp on this reality beginning to fade.

_It must be time for me to return, _Luna thought sadly to herself, looking down at her hooves, which were beginning to fade slightly. The universe around her too seemed to be losing its clarity, the dark sky paling and the starlight beginning to fade. Though she wanted nothing more than for the dream to continue longer, the princess knew it was useless to fight it.

Besides, she had a hearing to go to.

With one last, longing gaze at the stars, Luna took a breath, closing her suddenly heavy eyelids.

Oo0oO

Not a moment later, her eyes flashed open, and the princess recoiled a bit as blaring sunlight met her vision. Resisting the urge to groan, the princess pulled herself into a sitting position, wary of a gentle, yet insistent knocking at her bedroom door.

"Enter," she managed, hoping her recent slumber wasn't evident in her tone.

After a slight pause, the thick purple door creaked open, and the same guard from before peered his head in.

"Your highness." He bowed. "I hope I haven't disturbed you?"

Luna instinctively shook her head. "Not at all." She took a breath, sitting up taller. "Now, what is it you have come to say?"

"We're, uhm, ready for you, your highness. Your subjects are waiting."

"Right." She rose suddenly from her bed, straightening herself. Using her magic, she lifted her light blue crown off of her bedside table, placing it gently atop her own head. After glancing once in her vanity mirror, she nodded to the guard, following him out.

Already, she began pushing the events of the dream from her mind, drawing her complete focus to task at hand. Though it pained her to so easily brush it aside, Luna knew she could always return there again, to the place where the night went on forever. All she had to do was follow the starlight.

Oo0oO

** A/N: This one-shot idea has been stuck in my head for a while now, it feels nice to finally type it all out and post it. Though I'll be honest, I felt a bit . . . disappointed with how it came out. I mean, I'm not sure I could write it any better unless I scrap the whole thing and start from square one again . . . but something about this still feels off. I want to say it's just because I haven't attempted to write a really detail one-shot in a while, but I don't know.**

** In any case, feel free to review and share your own thoughts on this. If I feel like it (or if you guys really want it) I'm considering doing a sequel to this one-shot detailing Luna's journeys through the dreams of her subjects. It would likely be called "The Dream-Walker", and I like the idea of it . . . but like I said, we'll have to see.**

** Thanks again to all of the readers!**


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